Offred

I see this car occasionally, and the license plate unnerves me every time.

It’s the name of the main character in The Handmaid’s Tale, the one who is fertility-enslaved to the fundamentalist Christian leaders who took over the US. Still one of the most chilling things I’ve ever read.

Every time I see this car, I feel like the spirit of that story is stalking me.

The other night, in the rain, I parked behind Offred. Just as I was listening to Margaret Atwood on CBC talking about the new ballet made of The Handmaid’s Tale.